Here is Part three of my Darkstone fanfic. I apologize for the delay.
Sailor Moon: Darkstone
By Andrew M Hujsak
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all names places and events used in the anime and
manga are copyright and/or registered to DIC, Bandai, Toei, etc. Special thanks
to Naoko Takeuchi for her wonderful creation. This Fanfic is produced solely
for entertainment purposes and is not intended nor shall it be used for the
purposes of profit. Any one is free to download this story, however if they
wish to post it at another location, I would appreciate being notified. This
disclaimer should accompany any such posting.
Notices, comments, suggestions, flames, etc. please direct to me at:
andyhme@mix-net.net
Thanks in advance. Andrew M Hujsak
Authors note: I will be using the known names from the DIC translations and the
ones from the original Japanese where I don't know translations, and will be
making some up where I don't know either. So, please bear with me.-AMH
Part Three - A Matter of Attitude
The view was an all too familiar one, refreshing the nightmarish memories of
battle and death, the frozen landscape, bringing a dark chill even in the warmth
of her room. What was going on? Why were these pictures being shown on the television,
returning the pain and torment so few days past? These questions and many others
were flashing through Serenas' mind as the shock of what she was seeing hit her
like a sledgehammer.
"Mina!" she cried "What's going on, how'd they get there and why?!" "I...don't
know, exactly, I was cruising the channels, and when this came on, it just floored
me. All I know is, it's going to be mighty important to us, whatever is going on.
You keep on watching. I called you first, I'll get ahold of the others. Bye!"
"Yeah, you do that." Serena mumbled as the channel closed down. She was staring at
the screen, totally enraptured with what was going on.
(Voice from the TV)
"To recap this top news story, the scene you are looking at is the estimated
site of the source which had caused the increased unspot activity which had
started to melt the ice cap, but there is no sign of it now. There are, however,
other even more mysterious items here." (The camera does a pan of the frozen
landscape with several odd formations coming into view) "Even stranger are a set
of caverns which were detected, which previous geological expeditions had not
indicated were there. A group of the science team from the U.N. has entered a cave
(zoom close up of the mouth of a cave in the distance) which would seem to be
an entrance to the underground tunnels. We are awaiting first reports of what
their findings will be, though we expect it may be a little while, it's only
been about 10 minutes since they entered the passages. So, until we know more,
I'll turn this back to you, Jason. Dan Davison in northern Greenland, GSN News."
"Thanks, Dan. We will wait for further details. We'll be right back after these
messages. Jason Wright, GSN News." (Screen fades to commercial break).
Serena sat on her bed, her heart beating a mile a minute, her breath coming
in short, quick gasps, her mind a confused maze of swirling thought. Slowly,
as the impact of what she had seen sank in, she realized that there were others
that needed to be told of this. She got up off her bed and, almost absently,
turned off her TV. Making sure that she had her communicator with her, she went
out of her room and down the stairs into the family room. Her mom was just
hanging up the phone, turned, and seeing Serena, smiled and started to say,
"Serena, I've got good..." her voice trailing off, seeing the pale, drawn look
on her daughters face. "Honey, what's wrong? Are you feeling OK?" This elicited
looks from her dad, brother and Luna. She was about to answer when her communicator
started beeping. Pulling it out, she activated the channel.
"Yeah, hi." Serena said, dully.
"Serena, did you see?!?" It was Raye.
"Yeah," she responded. "I was about to get Luna and head over. Are the others
on their way?"
A momentary stunned silence, then Raye said, "You mean you actually figured
out that this was important enough to meet about?"
Angrily, Serena replied, "Raye! This is about one of, if not THE MOST important
events of our lives! Did you actually think that I'd be THAT dense about it?"
Raye was about to come back with one of her usual biting remarks, but thought
better of it, said, "No, of course not. The rest are on their way." The channel
shut down.
Serena put her communicator away, and looking up at her parents said, "Mom,
dad, I'm afraid I have to go out, Sailor Scout business. We're meeting over at
Raye's temple."
Her mother's hands went up to her neck, a look of terror in her eyes, and her
father said, "What's it about, Serena? Can you tell us?"
Serena thought a moment, then said, "There no time to go through the whole thing,
but it concerns our last fight, just before you found me in the park." Pausing
a moment, she then added, "Turn on GSN news, watch the Greenland story. That
might help to bring you up to date. Please don't worry. At this point, I don't
think anything important's going to happen, but we do have to get prepared,
just in case. I'll be home as soon as possible. Come on Luna, pick your jaw off
the floor and let's go, I'll fill you in on the way." From about the time of
the conversation with Raye, Lunas mouth had been gaping open, and her eyes bugged
out. She had never seen Serena act this way before, and was amazed. Was she
actually going to start taking her Scout duties seriously?
* * *
Raye stared at her communicator, stunned by the way Serena had reacted to her
jibe. It almost was like she had growled at her, not anything like the way they
usually argued and fought. The kid was in one really strange mood, and Raye
had no idea what she might do, for no one, ever, had seen Serena like that. Raye
drew herself out of her reverie and decided to do a fire reading, though other
than the news story, she wasn't getting any bad vibes about anything. Oh well.
As Raye prepared herself, her thoughts drifted back over the past few days, ever
since their seemingly-miraculous resurrection. So much had happened, she hadn't
really had time to sort it all out, but now, in this quiet moment, several things
began to fall into place. First of all there was Serena, there had been changes
in her attitude, her quick (that was most unlike her) agreement of revealing
their alter identities to their families, the way she conducted herself at the
meeting, an almost flawless performance without a single klutz-out, and then
there was what had just occurred. Most unusual for the Meatball Head, not to
mention that Lita and Amy had told her that Serena not only had actually made
it to school on time, but had also managed to stay awake the whole day in classes!
Raye shook her head slowly in wonderment.
Then there was this other thing, the appearance of Queen Serenity and her Court,
the Queen Mothers of the Sailor Scouts from the Silver Millennium. That and the
subsequent upgrading of their powers (whatever they turned out to be) seemed
to suggest that their battles were not over, rather the opposite, and that their
upcoming foes were even more powerful and dangerous than the forces of Beryl
and her minions. Not a pleasant thought to contemplate.
Raye sat in front of the altar to the Great Fire and cleared her mind, bringing
her spirit into harmony with the Fire. She then began the chant that would make
the link complete and allow her to see what she needed to see.
"Oh Great Fire, what is the danger that approaches, show me the face of our
enemy!" The Fire crackled in its pit not giving any indication of response.
Raye frowned at this, the Fire should have done *something*. Perhaps the question
wasn't the right one. She thought for a few moments then tried again. "Great
Fire, what do we need to look for from our last battle?" Immediately the Fire
flared up, and within the flames an image started to form, quickly taking on
definition. When the vision came into full resolution, Raye stared, not knowing
whether to believe what she was seeing, but the Fire was never wrong. The image
faded away and the Fire died down to its former level. Raye just stood there,
then whispered a single word...
"Darien."
* * *
The first thing the expedition noticed when they entered the cave was the increase
of temperature the further in they went, though this was not entirely unexpected,
in a colder climate such as they were in, the planets' internal heat would tend
to make it seem so. They were soon able to shed several layers of clothing, leaving
them in a niche in the wall so they could retrieve them later. As they proceeded,
they left reflective markers at roughly 50 foot intervals (such as the type used
to mark temporary lanes in road construction zones) leaving two at such places as
cross connecting tunnels or at chamber entrances, of which there were a fair number.
Continuing on, they had seen nothing too remarkable except that the rock the tunnels
were made of had gradually changed, becoming blacker with a tendency to absorb
the light from their lanterns. After about an hour of carefully making their way
along, the expedition stopped for a rest break at the entrance to one of the large
chambers they had come across. They figured that they had come about 2.5 km,
having used 250 of the reflectors, all that they had brought with them.
One of them spoke. "There doesn't seem much point in continuing on, we haven't
seen anything worth investigating further."
Another said, "I have to agree, these tunnels don't seem to have any connection
to the..."
A third member spoke up, interrupting the second man, "Wait, did you hear that?"
There was a momentary silence then the second man said, "Must have been your
imagination. I don't hear anything."
The third man said, "Maybe, but I could have sworn..." his voice trailing off.
Maybe his ears were playing tricks on him. But, no, there it was again!
"Did you hear it that time?" The others gave their affirmation. It was a strange,
but not unfamiliar sound, echoing eerily in the large cavern. Thinking that there
might be some sort of animal in there with them, a few of the group took out some
hand tools that they had carried in and took up a defensive posture, while a few
others took out powerful flashlights and started sweeping them around the room.
What they saw at first almost took their breath away, for this room was unlike
the others they had passed through. Set against one wall upon a raised platform
was a large, rough cut, though strangely ornate chair, or rather a throne, which
seemed to be hewn from the rock of the wall itself. There were reflections from
objects on the floor also, artifacts that tantalized. Continuing the sweep with
their lights, they finally spotted what appeared to be the source of the sound,
a dark mass about six feet in length on the floor, indistinct at the distance they
were from it. There was also a long, reflective object next to it. Approaching
cautiously, the sound came again, this time a distinct moan, as if reacting to
their presence. Getting closer, they finally saw what it was.
"Oh My God! How the hell did *he* get down here?"
It was definitely a human being, a young man, dressed in a peculiar black and
silver armor, and with a sword by his side. One member of the expedition, a man
with training in the medical sciences, went over and made a check of the vital
signs, then announced, "He appears to be in a state of shock, possible exposure
and dehydration. There also may be other injuries, but I can't tell for sure here.
We need to get him to proper medical facilities as soon as possible." Suddenly
startled by a grip on his arm, the med tech looked at the face of the man on the
floor. His eyes were open with a somewhat glazed look in them and he was trying
to say something. After a couple of tries he finally managed to croak out,
"..Sailor...Scouts...safe?..."
The expedition members looked at each other in confusion, the med tech finally
saying, "We don't know of any Sailor Scouts, there's no one here except you and
us. Can you tell us your name?" After a long moment the man on the floor whispered
"...Darien...", then lapsed into unconsciousness once more.
"Let's get him out of here, pronto!" A couple of men took out the emergency
stretcher they had brought along and were soon on their way back with their patient.
A few had gathered up some of the artifacts in the chamber, including several
shards of a strange black crystal and an odd looking staff with a claw like end
on it, holding what appeared to be a glass ball.
On the way back to the cave entrance, another member of the expedition had
been thinking. He was part of the group sent from Japan. He decided to speak
his thoughts. "When that man spoke, didn't he mention something about 'Sailor
Scouts'?"
"Yes, he did. Why do you ask?"
"It's just... there's been some rumors and wild stories back in Tokyo about
this group of young female warriors called the Sailor Scouts. They're supposed
to be fighters against evil and monsters from other places. A lot of the weird
things that have happened in my country are supposed to have had their involvement.
I never took the stories too seriously before, but the evidence would seem to
suggest that they are real. And now this man is asking about them. Could it be
that they would be involved in what's been going on here?"
"Young female warriors? Evil Monsters? You can't be serious...can you?"
"Now, hold on. He may be on to something." This man had a definite British
accent. " A few years ago there were rumors of a similar type in England, only
this was about a single girl warrior, a fighter for justice, and she was called
Sailor V. Now it seems to me, in light of what we've learned here and on the
surface, that it may be more than just a coincidence, and that the two may be
related. 'Sailor' V and 'Sailor' Scouts may be all part of the same thing, group,
organization, whatever, and could probably shed a whole lot of light on matters.
Only problem is, how to get in touch with them, they certainly haven't come
forward publicly, so I suppose that they wish to remain anonymous to protect
themselves and families, and they would certainly want guarantees of that remaining
so. Anyone got any suggestions?"
The man who had voiced his skepticism said, " I don't know, this all sounds
pretty far fetched to me, like something you'd see in a comic book or cartoons,
but if you really want to try this, why not ask him?" pointing to Darien.
The others looked at him in surprise, then the Brit said, "For someone who's
such a Doubting Thomas, you are a genius." The rest of the group got a good
chuckle out of this.
* * *
So far, the meeting had not been too productive. About the only thing that they
could agree on was that there had to be some significance to the news story that
would affect them. Serena was getting tired, and not just a little cranky. And
then there was Raye, she had been staring at Serena in the oddest way, but not
saying much, which was unusual for her. Finally, Serena couldn't take it any more.
"Raye, what is it with you tonight?" a little on the sharp side. "You've been
looking at me like I'm a stranger, or something."
Raye blinked a couple of times then looked away. "I guess...just the memories
of what happened to us, up there, its got me...a little spooked."
"It's got us all like that." said Mina
"Yeah" from Lita "but there's got to be more than that to it. You *have* been
looking at her kinda weird. What's up?"
Raye considered this for a moment, realizing that she had to tell them something.
She didn't want to reveal what she thought about the change in Serena, at least
not yet, so she let out a long sigh and told them about the fire reading instead.
"Why didn't you say something about this earlier?" asked Serena after a moment.
"I wasn't sure on what to make of it. I'm still not sure."
"It sure seems clear enough to me." said Serena, "He's still up there and we
have to go get him."
"Yeah? And just how do you propose we do that?"
"Same way we did before, the Sailor Teleport."
"Right, we're going to teleport right into the middle of those scientists and
TV crews and say 'Hey, we're up here to look for a lost Prince from a thousand
years ago!'. I think not."
Serena was stopped cold at this. She knew that they shouldn't get into a public
situation where they might get exposed accidently. Then Mina spoke up.
"Just for arguments sake, say we did go, where would we start looking?"
Serena thought for a couple of moments, then replied, "The last place I saw
him was in the caves, Beryls' throne room, just before I went out to face her.
That would seem to be the most likely place to start."
"Then perhaps we should wait a bit before coming to a decision on this. Some
of the people there did go into the caverns, and there may be a good chance
that if Darien is there, they will find him." said Amy.
"Oh, alright." said Serena, begrudgingly. "You're right that we shouldn't act
hastily. But if anything happens to him because we delayed, I'll be a long time
before forgiving you."
Raye, sensing that this was one more aspect of the changes taking place in
Serena, reached out and grasped Serenas hand and gently said, "I'm sure he'll
be OK. The Fire would have warned me if there was danger to him, or us."
With that, it was agreed that the meeting should adjourn, and everyone went
their separate ways.
* * *
When Serena arrived back at her home, she found that her parents were still
up and waiting for her. Both rushed to her and hugged her tightly 'til she had
to plead for air. Leading her into the family room, her mother said, "We were
so worried about you. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, everything is cool for now. I told you that we weren't expecting any
trouble, that this was just a planning session. But I do understand your concern
and appreciate it. Thank you."
Looking a bit more relieved, but still obviously concerned, her father asked,
"What did you decide to do?"
"We didn't come to any firm decisions, yet, but before I tell you, has there
been any more news on the TV?"
"Just one new item. The team that went into the caves came back out. They had
found someone in there." Serena bolted upright. Her father, not missing this,
continued on. "It's a young man, they're estimating about 20 years old. Do you
know who he might be?" eyeing his daughter suspiciously.
Momentarily ignoring that last question, Serena asked, "How is he, did they
say? Is he... is he alive?" the anxiety evident in her voice.
"Yes, he's alive." said her mother. Relief washed over Serena and she visibly
relaxed. "However," Serena tensed up once more, "he's unconcious and in need of
some medical attention, but they believe he'll pull through. And you do know him,
don't you?"
Serena slowly nodded. "He...his name is Darien, and he is...was, no *is* a part
of the Team. What I mean is, for a long time, he helped us out as Tuxedo Mask,
but we didn't know who he was then in normal life. When we did find out that
Tuxedo Mask was actually Darien, which was at the same time that I found out
that I was the Moon Princess, he was badly injured protecting me and then kidnapped
by the Negaverse. They brainwashed him and turned him against the Sailor Scouts.
Just before our final confrontation with Beryl, he was trying to kill me, but
I was able to free him from her control. When..."
"Wait a minute," interupted her father, "how were you able to free him of this
Beryl womans' control?"
"With this." Serena fished out the star-shaped music locket. "It's from the
Silver Millenium and has a kind of moon-magic in it, and other...qualities. I
convinced him to touch it, and that's all it took to finally drive Beryls'
influence from him."
Serenas father frowned a bit, then said, "I thought you said that you got it
from Melvin."
"No" she replied, "Mom only suggested that, I think to calm you down when you
went all spastic.I think she was trying to keep you from wrecking the car."
Serena shuddered inwardly, firstly from the memory of the close call they had
going to the hot springs, and secondly from the feeling that she knew where this
conversation was headed. Daddy was *not* going to be pleased. He'd probably cut
her allowance then ground her for life.
"Then just where did you get it? The truth, young lady."
The truth? Fine, she would tell him. "It's mine, I got it from my Mother,
Queen Serenity. It's a family heirloom passed down from generation to generation
upon the 18th birthday of the child who would be the heir to the throne of the
Moon Kingdom. That was me."
"Do you mean to tell us that you had reached your 18th birthday when the Moon
Kingdom was destroyed?"
"Yes, on that very day. It was during my coming of age ball, and," she lifted
her head ever so slightly to look her father square in the eye, "it was the day
of my engagement to the Prince of the Crystal Kingdom. Darien, Tuxedo Mask, is
the reincarnation of that Prince."
Her fathers' eyes suddenly bugged out, his mouth working as if trying to say
something, but nothing was coming out. Abruptly, he stood up and started pacing
rapidly back and forth across the room, occasionally looking back at Serena,
different, mixed emotions playing across his face and eyes. Anger, fear, wonderment,
confusion, love all intermixing and conficting at the same time. Serenas mother
remained seated on the sofa, her hands calmly folded in her lap, a slight smile
showing, a softness in her expression and eyes, a look of motherly, womanly
understanding.
Then, just as abruptly, he went into the kitchen, and the sound of running
water and splashing was heard.
"Mom?" Serena asked softly, "Is he going to be all right?"
"I think so, dear. I think he just needs to get used to the idea that his little
girl will be growing up, and that you'll be getting to the same point again,
much sooner than he'd like to admit."
Serena let out a huge yawn, then said, "I am so tired. Can we pick this up
tomorrow?"
Her father appeared in the entrance of the family room, still looking a bit
upset, not to mention a little damp. "That sounds like a good idea. We'll all
be in better shape, and of clearer mind. And besides, you do have school tomorrow."
"Yeah, I do." Then she cried out, "Oh, NO! My ALARM CLOCK! I'll NEVER get up
in time, now!"
Her mother smiled and said, I'm sure that between Luna and I, we'll get you
up."
"Oh, that we will." piped in Luna, puposefully examining her claws. Serena
glared at her.
Being as tired as she was, Serena fell almost instantly asleep. Well aware of
the events of the past few days and the toll it was taking on her, Luna decided
to take matters into her own paws and padded down the stairs. The first thing
she did was go to talk with Serenas' parents and try to square things up with
them. Being the Queens advisor had given her many skills, including that of
diplomacy, so that by the time she finished, both of the elder Tsukino had
accepted, reluctantly on Serenas' fathers part and a quiet joyfulness on her
mothers part, Serenas fated relationship with Darien. She then went back up to
check on Serena, looking at her with sympathy, and thought to herself that the
bit with the claws may have been a little too much. She really needed a break
to get herself collected, and Luna decided it was up to her to provide it. It
would affect quite a few others, with what she had in mind, but so what! Sailor
Moon would be of no use to anyone if she was fatigued to the point of exhaustion.
This was definately the lesser of two evils. With that Luna leapt onto the sill
of the open window, gave a quick look back at the young warrior sleeping there,
then went into the night. She had to get Artemus, there was work to do.
* * *
End Part Three
Author's Notes:
This part should have been completed long ago, and in fact was, but in my
reading it over, I was not real happy with it. So I scrapped it and started
over again, with this as the end result. Huh. I got a total of two responses
from readers on the previous five chapters (the three Passageways stories and
the two previous of Darkstone) which tells me no one is reading these, or they
figured it was so uninteresting that it wasn't worth commenting on. Even negative
critism would have been welcome. Quite discouraging. Be that as it may, I will
continue with this line until its conclusion, though there is no guarantee on
when each chapter will come out. After that... who knows. Later. AMH
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Andrew M. Hujsak / / |
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e-mail: andyhme@mix-net.net / / |
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http://www.commdesign.com/~andyhme | | / }
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